Apple's Latest Mac Mini Turns Four Years Old Ahead of 'Pro-Focused' Refresh Expected Later This Month

[oneMadRssn]

There's not going to be an October event. It's the 17th now, if there was going to be an event, the press invites would have already been sent out by now.

Yea, this is probably right. I think they still have until early next week to send invite and hold an event in October, but it is getting increasingly unlikely.

Especially given how big some people seem to think this event will be. If all those rumors turn out true, this would be the largest Apple announcement this decade. Right now the rumors are new (1) iPad Pros; (2) Macbooks, and/or (3) Macbook Airs; (4) Mac Mini; (5) AirPower; (6) AirPods or AirPods charging case; and maybe (7) Mac Pro.

It is highly unlikely Apple will hold an event with one week notice, having almost no leaks, to announce such a wide range of products, ranging not just from consumer to pro, but also from accessory to primary. If even half of the rumors turn out true it would be pretty huge by recent Apple announcements standards.

 

[Scooz]

Apple has made not effort to provide users with a high performance computer that doesn't force you to buy a screen (iMac), pay a premium for portability (which I don't need) or isn't $5,000 (iMac Pro or Mac Pro). My mac mini server has been a great machine but I have been in the market for a new one for over a year now and Apple has just let this line flounder while the concentrate on their iPhone and iPad business.

The problem is that they created a death spiral here. With less availabililty and high prices they are losing customers and with less customors the Mac development only makes sense when there‘s enough profit to be made per machine sold.

They tried with the iMacs, making a „gorgeous display“ the argument for the premium. This was when „gorgeous design“ alone would no longer work. And they somehow fell into a
state of depression (and compensation by re-orientation towards the mobile devices) when the Mac Pro failed to be what the customer needed.

Whatever that death race started, leaving customers or bad marketing decisions, it already seems too far down the road. If they want to turn it around they would need a whole portfolio of affordable and extendable machines.

So, cheaper but fast ARM books, extendable fast desktop cores with eGPU/ePCI and more options to use those extensions with all kinds of core devices. In a way, what the Mac Pro promised, but without internal GPUs and with faster external busses (tb3 instead of tb2) and at a much lower entry point.

TB3 basically caters toward that vision of extendable cores, but with components still being far too expensive. If they could bring those costs down, and that would be something only a company like Apple could do, there might be a way to serve a purpose. Without serving one, well, in business, you‘re obsolete.

And Xcode will probably run on other OSes next

 

[RogerWilco]

The R-pi 3 is a $40 ARM computer that has most of the ports of the current Mac mini. Linux is not the Mac OS, but it has come a long way and the GUI is quite usable now. Apple knows this growing segment at the low end along with the numerous NUCs have cut the potential market for the mini considerably. If they try to foist a $1K+ "pro" Mac mini on us, only the faithful will be fooled by Schiller's marketing malarkey.

 

[Juicy Box]

Kuo didn't have a lot of information to share on the Mac mini, but he said a processor upgrade is expected.

Is there anyone that doesn't think this?

The big question: when will Apple hold its rumored October event? With invites yet to be issued to the media, and with Apple CEO Tim Cook in Belgium next Wednesday, the most likely date for an October event at this point is Tuesday

Apple is expected to unveil the new Mac mini at a media event later this month, alongside new iPad Pro models with Face ID, updated iMac models,

I wouldn't be surprised if new iMac models didn't happen until 2019.

 

[citysnaps]

I'd be surprised if Apple releases a new Mini; at least in the form that people here are expecting/hoping.

Would make little sense from a business perspective.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Wasn't it only a year ago when Cook said that the Mac Mini was still important to Apple.

 

[Juicy Box]

Apple is expected to unveil the new Mac mini at a media event later this month, alongside new iPad Pro models with Face ID, updated iMac models, and an all-new MacBook or MacBook Air at the low end of its notebook lineup.

Another thought about this, where are all the rumors at? It seems like there has been rumors about the 2019 iPhones than new Macs.

I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't get new Macs until 2019.

 

[mrzz]

the new Apple policy is to call everything "Pro" and ask a ripoff price. I'm pretty sure people will be unpleasantly surprised..

 

[WannaGoMac]

Three reasons.
One, a brand new iPad Pro + Keyboard costs more than a brand new Mac Mini.
Two, they already had all the peripherals from the 2006 Mini that they just reconnected to the new one, including external hard drives with tens of thousands of family photos and their precious inkjet printer.
Three, familiarity with MacOS.

Makes sense. Thanks.

 

[citysnaps]

the new Apple policy is to call everything "Pro" and ask a ripoff price. I'm pretty sure people will be unpleasantly surprised..

Really? Everything?

 

[WannaGoMac]

I agree with ChrisMoBro. Apple has made not effort to provide users with a high performance computer that doesn't force you to buy a screen (iMac), pay a premium for portability (which I don't need) or isn't $5,000 (iMac Pro or Mac Pro). My mac mini server has been a great machine but I have been in the market for a new one for over a year now and Apple has just let this line flounder while the concentrate on their iPhone and iPad business. Pretty soon I will have to decide whether to stick with the compatibility of all Apple devices or just move my whole house to Windows 10. Selling 4 year old technology is just wrong.

Just bite the bullet and switch to Windows 10. If you need powerful machines or server/desktop it's your only option. MacOs is for laptops and maybe all-in-one users.

 

[ktecac]

I think component pricing has made the mini upgrade a tough proposition for Apple. The same goes for MBA. DDR4 pricing is still pretty bad, making a modern CPU upgrade more expensive. They basically have no choice but to move the mini up to a higher price point to still make it profitable. The first thing I'd brace for is at least a $100 price increase.

I'll happily accept a $1000+ increase as long as I know its all going towards the (Apple premium pricing) internal upgrades and none of it going towards a ****ing 5k monitor.

 

[Mainsail]

My wife and I each use a desktop plus an iPad. This combo works really well for us. She has a 2012 Mac Mini, and I have a 2014 MBA that just sits in clamshell mode all of the time. She is due to upgrade pretty soon, and I would like to eventually replace my MBA with a Mac Mini. The 2012 Mac Mini is getting pretty slow, especially when launching apps. I could get my wife an iMac, but it’s kind of a waste, since she already has a monitor, keyboards, and mouse. Also, I like the idea of a headless Mac from a maintainability standpoint.

Anyway, it would be great if Apple updated the Mac Mini with an improved base model soon. I don’t understand what is so difficult about it? The Mac Mini was developed to provide an economical solution that brings people into the Apple ecosystem. So, Apple doesn’t need to overachieve on this one.....just a processor update and 8gb of RAM on the base model. Why has this taken 4 years to do? Is an updated Mac Mini stuck in Jony’s workshop while he admires different color schemes for the case? Maybe Apple is obsessing about how to make it thinner, which is an almost meaningless attribute for a desktop computer. I just don’t understand why it has become so difficult for Apple to do basic stuff when it comes to their Macs.

 

[BeamWalker]

There once was a time when I got all excited when Phil Schiller got on stage at a keynote - nowadays I'm just scared and need to hold my girlfriends hand.

I can keep my hopes and expectations as low as possible and I'm sure they still find a way to undermine that. Not looking forward to a $1200 base Mac Mini.

 

[WannaGoMac]

"Pro focused event." Then get on CUDA support in Mojave, Apple. Just that alone would do WONDERS. You don't even have to officially support eGPU nVidia cards, just get CUDA support back in the OS and then let the community at egpu.io do your work for you (again).

From nVidia:


Apple's official eGPU support was the sole reason I bought a Mac instead of another godforsaken PC. It has been a nice first step, but I really can't find the specific Vega 64 cards these eGPU units officially support at a decent price. At some point, the overpriced under performing AMD cards combined with the higher end eGPU enclosures (with power supply needed to run those watt hungry Vega cards) add up to a pretty substantial cost that a reasonable person could just throw at a PC. It wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't also issues with running eGPUs on Macs running bootcamp.

Damn it, Apple. DAMN. IT. Even when you offer an olive branch, it's too short. How did you get so bad at this?

I love my iMac, but it might have to get sold. Apple doesn't understand pro software. They don't understand the software and hardware people use to create Apple's own commercials. And when they ask apple boot licking pundits like John Gruber at Daring Fireball, he tells them the wrong info, because he doesn't know either.

Apple, stop talking only to your worshippers... and start talking to those who are leaving your church.

I would move on to Linux/Windows 10 if you cant use a laptop or all-in-one. Apple is not truely interested in the desktop or pro category, even if they finally release a new Pro unit you're going to just eventually hit a years long wait for an upgrade again.

 

[Sabelonada]

No, Mac Sales per unit are going down while iPad unit sales are increasing as more and more home users see no need for a computer anymore. The Mac has been skewed toward business/pro customers. Thats probably not changing any time soon. I don't see millions of people who only have an iPad RUSHING to buy a new mac mini or MB Air. Tech habits are shifting.

It’s most likely because the desktop market is so small today the average consumers are not buying them

These two posts, by different authors, seem at odds. If consumers are abandoning computers for computing appliances yet businesses are the major source of computer sales it would make sense to target the business market.

However, the business market likely demands after purchase upgrade options and the ability to remove the storage so it can be transferred to another machine so that productivity is not impacted. This is in no way supported by the trend by Apple and others of soldering storage to the board. Apple is the worst in this regard. Pretty much all others manufacturers use commodity storage and standardized technology which allows for the removal of the storage.

"Use external storage" is the reply offered. Fine, if I am using external storage I don't really need to buy a large amount of storage in the first place. I can use a smaller system drive and store all of my data on an external device. I am tending in that direction as it is anyhow. This means that I am less likely to purchase a large amount of storage from Apple. I do not want to lose access to my data because of a non-storage related component failure. I am willing to accept this risk in a laptop or portable device. Compromises must be made for the great portability and utility gained in those form factors. For a desktop device, especially one marketed to "Pros" (the iMac Pro), it is bad practice to hold the client's information and work flow hostage in such a manner.

The new iMac Pro, yearly updates the iMacs, and yearly updates to MacBooks and MacBook Pros are all evidence against your assertion. Just because Apple hasn't update the Mini and Mac Pro in years doesn't mean it's their policy to wait until products are obsolete.

I like the Mini - I have a 2012 model serving as a Plex and file server (upgrade to an SSD helped a lot) - and would love to see it updated but it was always a niche product.

They don't update the iMac every year, if they had, I'd have bought one. It's been long enough now that it's likely they will skip the entire 8th generation of Intel chips for the iMac. I am not paying full price for what is now two generation old technology.

And the iMac is also outdated.
I am waiting for a proper iMac to replace my 2009 that is still running like a champ!

It appears I am not alone in that regard.

Put me in the list of those who think there will be no October 2018 event. Also put me in the list of those who think any new Mac Mini will be an overpriced, lackluster let down with absolutely no user modifications allowed. At least my old late 2012 Mac Mini could have RAM added. They took away that user modification with the 2014 models so they could charge us ten times what the RAM should cost. Apple is NEVER going to make a truly modifiable Mac again. You need to go to a Windows box for that, then put up with all the MS garbage. I currently use my late 2012 Mac Mini i5 with 16GB RAM as a dual boot using Boot Camp to boot both Mojave and Windows 10. It runs very sluggishly under Mojave, but it still cruises along under Windows 10. Sad, but true...

I fully expect any new Macs to have soldered storage and memory. I think this is a bad idea for desktop machines but I think it's inevitable. The absurd focus on thinness in a desktop means those options are likely going away.

I think that Apple will rely more and more on their proprietary controller, the T2, to such an extent that the Hackintosh subculture will be greatly eliminated. Apple is becoming a computing appliance company. There is great profit there, for now.

Sure the iPhone is the market leader, but the phone market is fickle, look at Nokia.

 

[velocityg4]

No need. No one is buying this outdated stuff.

Many people don't understand tech nor would think to look for generation numbers. Oddly enough many of them won't ask anyone they know for advice either. They just want a brand. For those who want an Apple and want to save money. They go to a store, see the Mac Mini is the cheapest Mac and buy it.

I come across this all the time. The truly baffling part. When I come across it. It is my IT clients. They could have just shot me an e-mail. I'd have sent them a link of what to buy from Newegg, Amazon or Micro Center (for people who don't trust shopping online or sometimes they have the best deal). Instead I setup a computer they bought with no consideration. The biggest problem being they don't have much storage needs and could have bought a computer with an SSD rather than a HDD.

 

[Tinmania]

And the 2014 Mac Mini model was really just a soft refresh of the 2012 model, the real last upgrade.

That 2014 update was a step backwards for some, as it included soldered RAM and no quad cpu offering, which was available in the 2012 version.

By that record I'd expect this new model to have a locked down everything (e.g., hard drive too).


Mike

 

[RickInHouston]

Who buys a 4 year old computer?

 

[BorderingOn]

Truly embarrassing. This might be understandable from a company that is struggling but Apple is not.

 

[magicschoolbus]

The Mac is dead.

You can thank the bean counters at Apple for that.

 

[fokmik]

Sell the MAC computer division.

Macs are held hostage by Apple who clearly do not want to spend any resources on them. Look at an iPhone and look at a 15" Macbook Pro.

Which has the higher profit margin?

Put a $499 Mimi next to an iPhone and it's worse.

Macs are dead unless they are broken off and sold to a Dell or HP who would be thrilled with their profit margins.

sorry to say, but even the iphone, their NR 1..is not changed so much ...yes, maybe on the bezels side and faceID could be a major tech for the last 3-4 years...so, Apple if put faceID into macbook line and imac...if imac can also have some slimmer bezel...here you go....mac is up to date in just 1 refresh

 

[guzhogi]

However, the business market likely demands after purchase upgrade options and the ability to remove the storage so it can be transferred to another machine so that productivity is not impacted. This is in no way supported by the trend by Apple and others of soldering storage to the board. Apple is the worst in this regard. Pretty much all others manufacturers use commodity storage and standardized technology which allows for the removal of the storage.

Not just upgradeability, but reparability. A lot of people & companies I know would rather pay $100 to replace a component than $1,000 for a whole computer. Especially when we're talking about a company with hundreds of devices that need repairs. The upfront costs are restrictive. Plus the time & effort of actually doing the repair & transfer of information takes a while. Why buy a whole new laptop when only the battery is bad?

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I'll happily accept a $1000+ increase as long as I know its all going towards the (Apple premium pricing) internal upgrades and none of it going towards a ****ing 5k monitor.

Certainly Apple charges a premium for the upgrades like RAM and storage, but they are otherwise in the ballpark on desktop components. The price of a 5K iMac isn’t that far off versus a self-build when you part it out—though the 5K panel is a major contributor to the overall price. Same goes for the mini. You’re getting a functional machine, OS and all. The issue, really, is that the specs aren’t right for a particular segment of Apple’s customers. Apple has kept the mini on life support for a reason, otherwise they would have canceled it outright by now.

DDR4 prices have probably been a major contributor to the lack of upgrades on mini and MBA, so Apple has kept them on DDR3 platforms. 8GB is like $80 retail. Any decent intel i5 CPU is going to be $200, even in volume. Those 2 parts alone get you about halfway to the cost of the base mini. That’s why I’m expecting a price hike.

 

[palmerc]

Mine is 6 years old and i still love it. Had to add an egpu to keep up with the pace.

Agree, The Late-2012 with i7, 16GB RAM, and SSD is a perfectly useful machine